Ashes (Dark in You 3)

Harper’s demon snarled. “What about Wyatt?”

Linda snickered. “Oh, don’t feel bad for Wyatt. He’s had plenty of affairs over the years.”

“Talia,” Harper guessed, remembering what McCauley had said about Linda hating the she-demon.

Taken aback, Linda blinked. “Yes, she was one of them. How did you know that?”

“Wild guess.” Harper gritted her teeth as another contraction wracked her womb. When it finally eased, she asked, “If you hated Talia, why would you have kept her son?”

Affronted, Linda glared. “I would never punish a child for someone else’s mistakes. If I was that sort of person, I wouldn’t be willing to raise this baby, would I? I’ll raise it as mine, Harper,” she taunted. “It’ll believe I’m it’s true mother. And I’ll raise it to hate you and Knox. I will. I’ll fill its ears with stories of what horrible, pitiless people you are. It will grow into someone who despises you both.”

Just the very idea of that was a knife through Harper’s soul.

“It might even one day kill Knox for us,” Linda continued. “It won’t matter if it’s as powerful as Knox or not – he’d never harm his own child, especially when it’s part of you. And that right there will give it power over him.”

She was right, the bitch. But… “You can’t think Nora will really give you the baby, Linda. Think. Think past how badly you want a child. To Nora, this baby will be a weapon she can wield over Knox’s head. She’ll keep it hidden but close and highly protected. She won’t want it to be loyal to anyone other than her. She’s not going to give you the baby and then send you on your merry way. She also won’t let you live to tell anyone what she’s done.”

Linda’s smile faded, but then she snorted. “You won’t divide and conquer us, Harper. Now, why not just concentrate on delivering my baby, hmm?”

“My baby.”

“No, mine.”

Harper hissed, wishing she could kick the bitch again. But that hiss turned into a moan as yet another contraction hit. Then there was another. And another. And another.

Once again, the minutes bled into hours. She groaned. She cried out. She whimpered. She cursed a blue streak that made Linda jerk back in horror at one point. And now she was more of a sweating, shaking, moaning mess than she had been before.

Her head drooped forward as another contraction eased off. God, it was so tempting to collapse on the ground and give her aching back a break. She was more exhausted than she’d ever been in her life. Her limbs and eyelids felt so damn heavy, and it was a wonder she didn’t fall asleep between contractions.

She felt all hollowed out, like she had nothing left in her. She wanted the pain to end, but she also didn’t want the labor to end – the thought of her baby in the hands of these neurotic motherfuckers… she couldn’t stand it.

She’d truly thought that Knox would have got there by now, but there was still no sign of him. If her demon had been able to call the flames, it would have taken over and done so, but neither of them could do a damn thing. I’ll think of something, she told it.

“How dilated is she?” Nora asked.

Linda checked. “Nine centimeters.”

“Not good enough,” Whiner snapped. “We can’t afford for this to go on any longer. And I don’t know about any of you, but I’m tired and uncomfortable. This ground is solid.”

Was this asshole for real? She’d been in pain for hours, prodded and poked by Linda, had nothing but tepid water, and was stuck in the same awkward position for way too long – her legs spread in front of multiple people as she waited for her cervix to dilate to the size of a freaking ball while her body felt like it was splitting in two… and he was tired and uncomfortable?

“Her water broke not so long ago,” Linda reminded him. “That’s progress.”

“We need more than ‘progress’,” he clipped. “We need the child in our hands.”

Harper shrugged. “You can’t blame the baby for not wanting to come out.”

Jumpy honed in on her, a glint of fear in his eyes. “What do you mean it doesn’t want to come out? How would you know what it does or doesn’t want?”

“It told me,” she lied, delighting in the way his face paled.

“Nonsense,” Whiner scoffed. “It doesn’t yet have the capacity to speak in either thought or voice.” But he didn’t sound so sure. He exchanged wary glances with the others.

“Ignore her,” Linda advised. “It’s just a baby.”

Jumpy spoke again. “It’s not just a baby. It is Knox Thorne’s baby. We have no idea what he is, which means we have no idea what we’re dealing with.” He looked at Harper. “It talks to you?”

“Not with words, but with images and impressions,” Harper replied.

Jumpy swallowed. “I would like to disbelieve you, but you have shown too little fear for my liking.”

Because she’d wholeheartedly believed that Knox was coming… but she was beginning to think he wouldn’t get there in time. Heat seemed to build behind her eyelids, and a lump formed in her throat. But she’d never been a person who accepted defeat. Never. No self-respecting Wallis ever would. She could see only one way to fight the incantors that were holding her captive. Just one. It would be a huge risk because she had no idea what would truly happen, but she had to take it.

Harper dug her fingers into the soil, felt the vortex’s menacing energy sizzling beneath her. Instead of fighting the vortex as she’d done since she arrived, she worked with it. It was definitely not the best idea to work with a malevolent, indiscriminate energy, but she was out of options.

Hoping it would be strong enough to help her, she sucked it in. Absorbed it. Welcomed it – and maybe that was why it didn’t hurt her. The dark energy mixed with the protective power in her belly, which painfully shot to her fingertips like zaps of electricity. Without a second’s hesitation, she called to her wings. She felt them respond, felt them begin to rise… but they didn’t. Damn.

“You think the child will save itself, don’t you?” Whiner asked.

Ignoring him, Harper sucked in more of the vortex’s energy. Took it, filled her metaphorical power tank with it even as it made her feel soiled inside and caused her head to pound like a bitch. A contraction caught her off-guard, breaking her concentration. Shaking, she breathed and moaned through the excruciating pain. Once it passed, she took yet more of the vortex’s energy, seeking out the “bridge” between her wings and the flames. And there it was.

“You do think the child will save itself, don’t you?” Whiner pushed.

Harper glared at him, smiling inside as the ground began to shake. “No, I don’t.” The air buzzed and thickened with power. “I think it will kill you all.”

Flames exploded out of the ground in front of her – red, black, gold, and hungry. They devoured Linda whole, and Harper couldn’t help finding immense satisfaction in the bitch’s screams. Yeah, maybe the vortex’s energy had fed her vengeful streak a little.

The unbearable heat radiating from the flames burned Harper’s skin, but they left no blisters. Despite their strength and power, they wouldn’t harm her. Instead of spreading as she’d hoped, the flames returned to where they came, leaving only ashes behind. Shit. It was hard to concentrate while battling with panic, pain, and rage.

Head still pounding, Harper infused hellfire into the grass, making the enchanted vines restraining her wrists catch fire. They released her with an animal-like squeak, and she sat up and did the same to the vines restraining her ankles. Finally free, she forced herself to get to her knees. The others were all staring at her in horror – no, at her belly in horror.

“It was the child,” Jumpy cried out. “It called the flames!”

“We’re leaving,” declared Nora. “Get her.”

Whiner frowned. “But —”

“We didn’t go through all this to leave her here,” Nora hissed. “She comes with us.”